


Like Candy From A Babe

by Bluestarshine



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Background story, Death, Other, Past Lives, Sad with a Happy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-30
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2019-07-20 11:38:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16136462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluestarshine/pseuds/Bluestarshine
Summary: Gaius recalls his past life before joining the Shepherds and vents to a late night reading tactician.





	Like Candy From A Babe

Moonlight escaped from a break in the endless grey clouds, a storm brewing over the horizon, only meant a long and wet march for Gaius and everyone else, sometimes he wishes he could retire to his bed for the day. Most of the Shepherds were already fast asleep, but the orange haired thief had things on his mind. Nonetheless, the tactician had been stirring in the night as well.

"You sure are up late bubbles." He said against the door frame to the library.

"Don't tell Chrom, he gets into a panic when he learns how long I stay up, I just thought I would read up before our march tomorrow." The tactician said as they pulled books off from the many bookshelves that surrounded the room.

The sweet-toothed thief popped a piece of candy into his mouth and ran a hand through his raven hair. While staring off into his own mind, Robin began to worry about the state of their fellow ally and friend.

"Something on your mind Gaius?" Robin said staring at the thief that looked more than troubled.

He slumped slowly down to the ground and buried his face into his knees, Robin approached him carefully in order to not disturb the pained thief.

"It's not very cool of me to be showing my emotions, is it?" He stared back at the tactician with teary eyes that looked like a dam about to burst. " Sorry bubbles, I was thinking back to my memories of my parents, it's been awhile since I've thought of them." Gaius wiped his eyes with his sleeve and stood back up moving to the table where Robin had been sitting.

"Want to talk about it?" Robin sat directly across from him and closed the books that lay across the table. " It's not like you to be like this, I'm here for you Gaius." They placed a caring hand on Gaius's.

"Yeah, I think for once I would like to talk about it, get ready for a story bubbles." Gaius began to share his life story of before the Shepherds.

~

Thunder clouds formed in the midst of the horizon, only an infant, Gaius was a troublemaker. He lived with his mother and father in a quiet village near the border between Plegia and Ylisse, a quiet village.

"Gaius, where do you think you are going?" His mother pulled his collar as he tried to run out of the house.

"With father, he's going on a big mission today." He gave her a pouty face that meant he knew he wasn't going anywhere.

His mother was a fragile and thin woman, she was frail but careful with every touch, her long brown silky hair along with many burn and cut marks covered her body. As a baker, it was only common.

"Not at your age boy, you're only a child, your father is an adult and only works with adults, so maybe when you grow up." She patted his head and gave him a piece of candy which immediately brightened his mood. " Now run along, I have a lot of orders to finish." He ran to his room and crashed onto his bed.

Cries and laughs echoed from a nearby alley, causing him to jump from his window and investigate. Peering from the corner he saw three older kids who looked in their early teen years pinning a kid around his age against the wall.

"Get your hands off me." The kid cried out in a whisper.

"What makes you think we would, not after you ran into me, you should really watch where you are going." He pulled out a dagger from his pocket and his friends smirked. " Could get messy."

Gaius was practically trembling, the kid found his eyes and that made him jump back a bit. He tried to step away but instead tripped and fell, causing all three of the teens to look back at him.

"What, your buddy?" He threw the kid against the wall and all three of them approached Gaius. "You got a lot of nerve kid, what do you want some too?" He picked up Gaius by his shirt, he smelled like dirt and smoke.

"Let me go!" He struggled to get loose.

"Heh, you're just a brat that doesn't know his place." The shorter more muscular one said and punched Gaius square in the face. " Don't pick a fight you know you can't win." They then threw him against the wall and walked away.

Whimpers filled the small space from where their other kid had been thrown, Gaius slowly struggled to get up and limped to where the kid lay. His leg was twisted and his bone had broken skin, a now shattered crate covered his chest.

"Don't worry, I got ya." He slowly picked him up and made sure to not touch his open wound. Slowly, he carried him to the nearby doctor.

"Hey, Doc open up!" Gaius yelled while kicking on the door.

"This better be important I'm not going to deal with anymo-" The doctor quickly took the boy from his arms and placed him carefully on the table, the room smelled clean. "Thank you, Gaius, you might have just saved this boy from losing a leg." Gaius nodded and the doctor patted him on the head and gave him a candy sucker.

He stayed with the doctor until the boy lost consciousness, he didn't know anything about medicine or how the body worked.

"He isn't dead, just passed out, will you pass me my stave?" Gaius walked to the end of the room and handed him his staff. "This will close up his wounds, but his leg will need to stay in a cast for a month or two before he can walk on it." The room glew a bright blue light as the stave magically sealed the wound as if the injury had never happened.

"Doc, these boys were hassling him, I wanted to help, but I was too scared." Gaius's eyes filled with tears that soon began to fall. " I wasn't strong enough to help."

The doctor kneeled down and placed a caring hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Now now son, you may not have been able to stop the situation from happening, but you prevented it from becoming worse, your father is going to be proud, run along home." After many tears and sniffing, he walked back home.

Opening the door, he could hear his mother and father having a lengthy conversation, he didn't quite understand anything about the kingdom of Plegia, so he chose to ignore their words.

"Son, I was wondering where you were, where did you get that bruise from?" He placed his hand on his cheek where he was punched, a slight sting filled his face and he whimpered a bit at the pain.

He told his parents each and every detail on the incident, through the middle of it his tears came back at the recalling of the incident.

"I see, I'll talk to their parents later, but Gaius." He looked up at his father with teary eyes. "I'm proud of you for helping that boy, you made the right call I'm very proud son." He patted him on the back and smiled down at his son that looked like a smaller version of himself.

"Pa, I want to grow strong, I want to protect people that can't protect themselves!" He said loudly.

"What happened to becoming a thief like your old man here?" His father laughed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"I want to do that too, I want to become the best thief in Plegia just like you Pa, but I want to be able to protect people too." Gaius's eyes glew with determination.

His mother almost spoke in protest, but his father placed a hand in the air to stop her.

"Alright lad, when you are old enough I'll teach you how to fight, and to steal, sound like a plan?" Gaius's eyes filled with excitement and joy.

"Of course Pa, I'll be extra good!"

~

Two years went by, Gaius was much bigger and had just hit ten years of age, for the past month his father trained him in swordsmanship and use of daggers in the day, and at night how to steal and lockpick. He was a future thief in training, he looked even more like his father every day.

It had just grown to noon, it was midsummer and the sun was glaring down on the two during his practice.

"Come on lad, keep up with your old man." His father said after swinging a wooden sword at his son. "If you can't attack then play defense until the time is right."

Gaius was filled with anger which fueled his attacks, he went for a strike but was blocked almost immediately by his father. His breaths grew unsteady and heavy, they had been at it for nearly two hours.

"Pa, I can't take much more of this." He said in between breaths.

His father's face was one of disbelief.

"No, you can keep going." He swung heavy and hard at Gaius who in return blocked it but nearly fell to the ground against the heavy blow.

"I can't!" Gaius threw his sword to the ground and glared at his father with a deadly eye.

"Stop doubting yourself!" His father's voice was deep and loud as he slapped his son right where he was punched two years ago.

A shiver of pain rang through his body, angry tears started to well up in his eyes, along with a pulse of energy and anger. He picked the sword back up with a tight grip.

"I'm trying!" He rushed at his father with a flurry of attacks, still not enough to best his father, but better than his recent attempts.

He caught his son's sword and took it from him, he stared back at him in confusion.

"Very well Gaius, you're swordplay is growing immensely, but keep in mind that you must never let your emotions take hold of you. They may grant you strength, but cloud your judgment in the process." He patted his head like usual and lead the way back inside the house.

"My body is so sore." With every step he took, his body felt tighter.

"That's a part of growing and exercising, the more you work with your muscles, the stronger they get. Let's take a bath, that ought to relax them some. He warmed up the water for the bath and brought the towels for them after.

Once it grew hot enough they both stepped in and relaxed at the warm sensation the water gave them. Gaius stared at his and his father's body, while his own was only slightly muscular, his father looked immensely strong and feared. He strived to be just like his father.

"Son, you've grown so much in the past two years, especially at thievery, honestly you look and act just like I did as a young boy, aside from having a major sweet tooth which you get from your mother." He laughed and smiled at his growing son that looked even more like him.

"I wish I was as strong as you, you're on another level than me." Gaius frowned and ran his hand through his raven orange hair.

"You will with a lot more practice lad, took me awhile to get as good as I did."

They spent about an hour soaking in the hot water and talked about nothing in particular, they would repeat this almost every day and then go to a steaming hot meal made by Gaius's mother.

"Dinner looks fantastic darling." His father placed a kiss on her forehead and she blushed and smiled at the small amount of affection.

"Oh stop, it's nothing special." She patted her hand against her apron. "Eat up boys, I'm sure you two are very hungry after practice today." Both nodded and immediately started to stuff their faces with the food that was spread out.

After dinner they sat and let their food settle, his mother prepared for bed and the two thieves began their night time training soon after. Quickly and quietly they cloaked themselves in black robes with hoods and made way to the capital city of Plegia.

Upon arrival they saw many victims that they could steal from, the central city of Plegia's capital was home to many rich and wealthy aristocrats and citizens. The marketplace would be the best spot for theft.

"Alright son, remind me what the rules of being a thief are, my poor old mind can't possibly remember." Gaius could clearly sense the sarcasm in his father's voice and let out a sigh before responding.

"Never steal from people in need, don't kill unless it is for self-defense, and don't get caught so you don't have to kill." His father seemed pleased and placed a careful hand on his shoulder.

"See that woman, the one in the red dress, steal her purse." To the left of them was a woman dressed in all red, the only exception was her white purse, even her hair was red.

"Alright, here I go, would you mind distracting the shopkeeper?" He nodded and slowly Gaius made his way to the woman.

Being young had many perks, including being short enough to not be spotted so easily spotted among a crowd.

"Hey there lass, would you mind telling me about this jewel you have here." His father and the owner got into a long discussion about the origins of the green emerald ring that lay high on the counter, perfect distraction.

With the softest touch, he was able to carefully remove the purse from her belt, it was quite light so she wouldn't have known the difference if it was still there. Inside were many silver and gold pieces, he quickly shoved them in his one of many pockets and carefully placed it back on her belt.

"Well I best be going, wouldn't want to keep you busy." His father politely excused himself and both walked into the crowd and made their way to a nearby clearing where not too many people were. "So, anything good?"

The young thief pulled out many coins and placed them in his father's hands.

"She didn't have too much on her, either she had already bought things before, or she was holding out on us." He smirked and his father gave him a pat on the back,

"I taught you well, I think that's enough, the crowd is thinning out." The ride back home was long, and Gaius fell asleep on the way.

They would repeat all of his teachings until Gaius turned fifteen years of age, then the more risks and dangers would be a part of their routine. Until then, he must practice the practical skills

Something he never wished for his son, would be the moment he would have to kill in order to protect himself, that would be the loss of his remaining innocence and bring him into the harsh cruel world.

Once home, he carried his smaller self into his room and laid him on his bed, covering him up and landing a kiss on his forehead. He wished that time would slow down, Gaius grew every day and it frightened his father to no extent.

~

Five more years passed, Gaius grew, even more, almost the same height as his father and taller than his mother. His body was more muscular than ever, he would have looked like his father if he wasn't so slim. His hair even looked less feathery and raven-like, to his father's now smoothe side brushed hair.

"Is that all you have in you son?" His father while said attacking Gaius with a flurry of swings and strikes. "Don't tell me you already give up."

Gaius blocked every move and attacked at just the right moment, barely scratching his father who looked more than shocked at his son's progress in swordsmanship. He was much faster and stronger than his previous years. His father was much more impressed with his growth than he had ever been.

"In your dreams old man, I think you're the one that has given up." He retaliated and with one strong sweep, he knocked the sword from his father's hand.

He looked pleased with himself, this was the first time he had ever bested his father in a match. His father merely smiled and nodded back at him, he felt a wave of energy pulse through his veins and wanted more action.

"Again father?" Gaius picked up the sword from the ground and handed it back to his father.

Looking back to him, his father looked much older than he realized, old enough to be a retired soldier for sure. Though he doubted if he would ever admit it to either of them. One thing's for sure, his father wasn't done with a life of thievery yet.

"Sorry lad, your old man is worn out from all of this training, I think you're well better than me by now." His father turned and walked into the house, greeted by his mother who placed a kiss on both of their cheeks.

"Mom!" Gaius whined and wiped it away.

She merely responded with a laugh and patted him softly on the head.

"Oh honey, my jewelry box got locked and I can't find the key, could you do something about that?" His father looked at him and Gaius beamed with happiness and happily ran to their room and lockpicked the box open.

"Done mom!" He happily skipped back into the kitchen with a huge smile on his face.

"Where did you learn to do that?" His mother glared at his father and then they both fell into abrupt laughter.

But that was all stopped with a sudden loud banging on the door which echoed throughout the house, stopping all forms of noise.

"Open up the damn door!" A deep voice yelled from outside.

"I'll handle this." His father said and then slowly opened the door.

It seemed like he was just standing there, staring at the man at the door, but as if time slowed down, his father fell back to the ground. Arrow pierced between his eyes with a horrid expression on his face.

As the men walked in the door, his mother grabbed a knife from the kitchen counter and went to strike at them, instead she was easily overpowered and only kept them at bay for so long.

"Gaius run!" She screamed as she looked back at her son with a scared expression on her face that sent chills down his spine."Hurry!"

As she said that, an axe split her skull open, sending nausea and fear through the small boy. He quickly ran to his bedroom and locked the door, the men weren't far behind and were hacking at the door with the same axe that killed his mother.

Gaius quickly put his cloak on and his leather belt with a sheath for his dagger, just as they had broken down the door he jumped from the window and landed on the hard ashed filled soil.

Running past bodies and people being murdered right in front of him, Gaius just ran away, running out of the village into the forest, smoke and embers filled the sky as he looked back to his village that was being torn and burned down.

Arrows started to fly at him, which made him run even deeper into the forest, getting lost and scared for his life. An archer chased after him, his steps were not far behind, Gaius hid behind a tree, breathless. The archer ran past him, Gaius slid down the tree slowly crying.

"Mom, Dad." He whimpered and cried while wearing his hood over his head.

Gaius heard running coming towards his direction, he unsheathed his dagger and prepared himself for what was to come. The steps grew loud and it sounded like a beast wanting to kill.

Closing his eyes Gaius drove the blade into the person's chest and took it out as his eyes opened, to only reveal more horror. The village's doctor and medic, the same person who he went to for examinations and check-ups, the person he relied on to help the sick and injured.

"I'm.... I'm sorry." Gaius ran faster than ever until his legs felt like lead, and all Gaius could see was the horrid expression of the person he had killed. He spent the rest of the night in the tall canopy of the trees while he watched the remains of his village burn away.

~

Many years had gone by then, Gaius was now a grown adult, who hung around a group of thieves in the capital part of Plegia, every night included more violence and thievery, but his heart was closed off, as were his emotions. Nothing phased him, and he never thought about what he stole, nor who he killed.

On a long gruesome night, his plan to steal a very prized possession of an aristocrat was thwarted when Gaius had ratted him out, he was immediately taken to jail, and was branded a thief, a permanent tattoo of a reminder of who he was. This never stopped him though, all he did was wear a bandana around it to hide who he was branded as.

What changed his life, was one order, help infiltrate and kill the Exalt of Ylisse, Emmeryn. At first, he wasn't told this, he was only told that he would be retrieving treasure from their sacred vault. Once her life was spoken as their objective, Gaius couldn't move, he was astonished to hear that of all people in this world, he was to kill someone he didn't have a grudge against, but also someone who meant something to the people she served.

When the blue-haired prince approached him, he dropped his weapons and took his hood off.

"Drop your weapon, or die where you stand! His voice shook Gaius to the core, but he remained calm even through the fear.

"Easy there, blue blood. I'm not here to hurt anyone." Gaius put a hand up in protest, and the blue-haired prince seemed to calm down.

"Yet you run with a band of assassins?" His tone seemed to show his confusion.

"Believe it or not, just trying to make a living." Gaius pointed to his money pouch and all of the pockets lined on his cloak." I'm a thief, see? Bust open doors, crack into chests...that kind of thing." He was anxious to see the approval of the prince who looked out to kill him. "This lot said they wanted to break into some type of vault. Nobody said anything about murder. I'd just as soon sit this one out." Gaius hesitated to speak further, wanting to only lessen the air around the two.

"Hmm... Then perhaps you'd be willing to prove your good intentions?" The prince said and smiled slightly, which made Gaius feel a bit safer through the situation.

"Beg pardon?" He questioned what the prince was thinking.

"We need all the help we can get to save the exalt's life. You appear capable, and we could use any information you have about our foes." The prince put his sword away, lessening the mood.

"Oh, right--those good intentions." He let out a large sigh and looked the prince straight in the eye." Fine then, I'll prove my sincerity... if you sweeten the deal.

~

"Chrom really helped me out then, if not for him, I'd still be my old self, a heartless murderer who stole from anyone who couldn't defend themselves. In a lot of ways, he reminds me of my father, I guess that's what brought me back. Joining the Shepherds was the best choice I could ever make, I feel so much love and belonging here." Tears fell from his already damp skin from previous sessions.

"Gaius, I didn't know you had it so rough, I'm glad you could be a part of something bigger than yourself." Robin looked intently at him. Making Gaius overwhelmed with joy once again.

"Hey, Bubbles. er, Robin? Would you ever like to learn to bake sweets, my mother taught me, and I'd feel reassured knowing that someone else does too." He rubbed the back of his neck.

"I'd be glad too, let's go now, I'm still flowing with energy." They both walked out from the room and into the kitchen, as they baked and made a mess throughout the kitchen, Gaius noticed the skies had cleared, revealing a sparkling night sky.


End file.
